Kidnap victim Sulaiman Safi put his finger between his eyebrows Friday to show B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce where one of his abductors had pressed a Glock during his October 2011 ordeal.

“He racked the gun and pulled the gun to my forehead and he said `This is not a joke, stop f–king around, these guys want their money now or you are going to die today,” Safi testified at the trial of seven accused.

“He pressed the gun onto my forehead hard a few times and I told him that I am not f–king around, I am doing the best I can. I want to fix this problem and move forward.”

Safi described the harrowing 20 hours he spent after being grabbed from a West End restaurant over a missing $400,000 he had agreed to transport to the U.S.

The Vancouver man was testifying via video-link from California where he is serving an 81-month sentence for conspiracy to traffic cocaine.

Twice this week, Safi told Bruce he could not testify due to issues that had arisen about his “safety,” but he continued with his evidence Friday after being given an opportunity to consult a lawyer.

Earlier in the week he said he said he had a finance business and first met accused kidnapper Nazfar Mirhadi when she was working as a realtor. He later agreed to launder large amounts of cash, including the $400,000 he was supposed to send to L.A. in October 2011.

The transfer didn’t happen and $264,000 of the cash was seized by Vancouver Police when he sent it with an associate in a taxi to return it to Mirhadi, Safi said.

But neither she nor her associate believed him, Safi said. During a meeting at the Denman Tap House a week later, he was asked to follow a man he described as “East Indian” to his “office.”

Instead, he was led into an alley where others put him in an SUV, handcuffed him and gave him a balaclava to cover his eyes.

Safi said Friday that his kidnappers stopped for fast food as they drove him to a building where he was held.

“From the smell of the food, which I am familiar with, I thought it was McDonald’s,” he said as several of the accused grinned in the courtroom.

Once inside the building, which police determined was in Richmond, Safi said he was tied to a chair with “zap straps” and talked to repeatedly by “the main guy,” who said his crew had been hired to retrieve the missing money, plus $600,000 extra.

When Safi insisted he could only come up with what was lost, “the main guy” and another kidnapper he called “the scruffy guy” got more aggressive, he told Bruce.

“When he saw I wasn’t budging and that’s all I could offer, he asked the scruffy guy to go get the clippers and start clipping my fingers,” Safi said. “His tone of voice was loud, threatening.”

Safi said he finally struck a deal with his kidnappers to pay them as much cash as he could gather, as well as 10 kilos of cocaine worth $350,000 wholesale.

They led him out of the building and were dropping him off in Richmond when police – who had been tipped off – moved in arrested Robert Carr, Thomas Crawford, Edmond Gammel, David Tarrant and Veronica Moncur. Mirhadi and the accused Demple Brar turned themselves in later. All have pleaded not guilty.

Safi said that when Vancouver Police took him, they could still see the red mark on his forehead from the gun. He is scheduled to continue his evidence Tuesday.

37 Comment(s) for Kidnap victim says a gun was held to his head

Wow you don’t send a bunch of money in a taxi across the border that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of in my life. It’s pretty obvious this guy stole the money, then of course miraculously could come up with the stolen amount once they got him.

If you want to launder $400k just buy 4,000 bitcoins. Cash it out locally in LA. Problem solved. Or get an offshore corporation in Seychelles with anonymous directors, set up a fake online business and sell yourself $400k worth of goods and problem solved.

Hahaha who gives someone 400000 dollars. Fuckn dumbasses. All derserve jail time for being stupid. Stupid Fuckn stupids. Idiots. Here please laundry 400000 for me here’s the cash see ya. Ops I lost the money cause I saw so much cash I had to steal it. Laundry or launder ? I’m stupid too. Put in the dryer after. Huh ?

Kim,
Your writing and reporting on this matter has only made me feel one thing……..getting a Big Mac combo, supersized fries and a diet coke! Ill turn to real reporters for unbiased and unslanted views. Your blog is as worthy of actual information as a filet a fish is nutrients!

I like how sully is acting all innnocent when he definately ripped these guys off. Sully is a known scammer. Anyone that goes to him for help he rips them right the fuck off, and usually fucks off town. Whether he deals with a drug dealer or a regular 9-5er, he rips anyone and everyone off.